Rafa Benítez (now unemployed)

[TRon]

Ashley probably figured by spending big money on players he could stave off any relegation threat. He did the same the year we hired McClaren. In his mind a £40m striker supported by a couple of wide players who cost a total in the same region should probably buy you insurance against the drop. Then he could turn round and high five with his pals and say "who needs Rafa! Fuck him and his 29yr old duds!"

[Gallowgate End]

I'm surprised Rafa stuck it out for 3 years tbh, he must have known deep down that he was being taken for a ride. I think he just didn't want to ditch the fans otherwise he'd have packed in within a year.

 

I’m still more surprised that he ever contacted us to sign up to this shitfest. It’s not like Ashley has done to Rafa something he didn’t do to other managers before. I love Rafa as much as the next fan, but in an odd way his presence possibly set the club back by taking the pressure right off Ashley. Fans might have given up on their season tickets by now, after three more years of the likes of Carver, McClaren and Bruce. I don’t blame Rafa obviously, but he can’t claim he didn’t know how Ashley operates before he joined and if he thought he might persuade him to change his ways he was sadly mistaken. I’m sure the likes of Keegan and Shearer would have been happy to explain that to him beforehand if he didn’t. Sadly I will always look back at the Rafa era with some regret for that reason, as brilliant a manager and a man as he is. I’m certain Ashley will have loved playing with his and the fans’ emotions.

 

Tbf I fell for it as well. I was convinced that agreeing to hire Rafa was Ashley finally conceding his methods weren't working. But he really couldn't give a toss about the football, I think he'd rather watch the club burn than admit he is wrong. We saw it with Keegan when we were riding high, and we have seen it again with Rafa. When it all goes tits up as it must do, then he'll hold a press conference again saying he has made mistakes but will learn from them, and blah blah blah. Rinse and repeat.

 

The signs weren't bad to begin with - talk of "what Rafa wants, Rafa gets" behind the scenes.  That lasted one transfer window, where we made a substantial profit in net spend terms But players were signed that fit the needs of the squad in the manager's view.

 

Whether that changed because Ashley wasn't happy with a few of the signings, or it was always the plan to play nice to give the best chance of promotion then pull the rug from under Rafa and revert to type, only Ashley knows.

 

I think Ashley agreed to go along with it for a while, but was never really comfortable with Rafa's insistence you need quality and experience. One or two iffy signings and he was probably "I was right all along". When Bruce takes us down or gets sacked, he'll probably be full of regret again, but only because relegation will cost him more than any profits he makes from these 24yr old signings.

 

Rafa signed Koulibaly & Jorginho both at 22 at Napoli he believes in a balance of young and old not one or the other.

 

We saw with the impact of Rondon the importance of balance when recruiting.

[Interpolic]

I hope you meet Rafa and he calls you a bellend.

[Shays Given Tim Flowers]

Just some fag packet Maths the season we were last relegated we sold Sissoko and Wijnaldum for £40m and received a £40m parachute payment...

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Now I kind of wish Rafa had never come. Very cruel to get a little reminder of how big we could be, and then to back to Ashleyland. Some good times though I suppose.

[HawK]

I think measuring any financial impact purely in NUFCs finances as a way to see how hard it hits Ashley is missing the point. It's like thinking boycotts will annoy him because of the missed gate revenue (which has invariably already been collected by the ST payment anyway). Its about damaging the SD brand by associating it with a fanbase who refuse to sit next to SD branding and empty stadia.

 

NUFC finances are nothing to him other than a nice cash generator. It's the exposure of SD in the global market by being in the Premier League that makes his millions by indirectly building the SD brand.

 

But if things keep going the way they are for SD with it basically becoming the Pound Land of clothing, the perceived brand exposure might be worth less and less to the value of the club itself.

 

When SD goes under, I don't see him selling NUFC to keep it going. I think he'll double down and become an Oyston-esque-owner.

 

God help us.

[Sean]

Now I kind of wish Rafa had never come. Very cruel to get a little reminder of how big we could be, and then to back to Ashleyland. Some good times though I suppose.

 

It's the connection Rafa has with the club, fans and area that's the main thing I'll take from it.

 

If Ashley ever did sell  then any sane new owners would surely move heaven and earth to bring him back. And he would gladly come if contracts etc allowed.

 

Back to BZG: as if they wanted to buy the club but didn't want Rafa 

 

It was all a load of smoke.

[Deuce]

What would an 18-year-old Newcastle supporter think about his club now?

 

Think it's fucking shit, mate.

 

[Minhosa]

Rafa coming out quoting Confucius whereas Bruce asking 'What the fuck is going on?'.

 

Has there ever been a better demonstration of what we had to what we now have?

[D. Yimentov]

Now I kind of wish Rafa had never come. Very cruel to get a little reminder of how big we could be, and then to back to Ashleyland. Some good times though I suppose.

 

It's the connection Rafa has with the club, fans and area that's the main thing I'll take from it.

 

If Ashley ever did sell  then any sane new owners would surely move heaven and earth to bring him back. And he would gladly come if contracts etc allowed.

 

Back to BZG: as if they wanted to buy the club but didn't want Rafa 

 

It was all a load of smoke.

 

It was all a load of money wasted on PR.

 

Ashley should've just came out and said "I'm not keeping Rafa because Geordies are cretins and I've urinated on all the seats". Wouldn't stop the superfans.

[Deuce]

Edwards come out with any anti-Rafa garbage in response?

[ToonArmy1892]

Rafa man 

 

More love for the club than the spineless b******s that have allowed Ashley to rebrand it as Ashley FC which is now complete.

 

So-called supporters.

 

Aye right.

 

Cheers c***s for paying Ashley to let Rafa leave for China replaced by Steve f***ing Bruce.

 

You’d cry I’d you didn’t laugh

 

I did actually shed a tear when Rafa left.

 

Propa fan me.

[Minhosa]

Edwards come out with any anti-Rafa garbage in response?

 

Only a matter of time....

[David Edgar]

Edwards is amusingly silent today. 

[geordiedean]

Rafa coming out quoting Confucius whereas Bruce asking 'What the fuck is going on?'.

 

Has there ever been a better demonstration of what we had to what we now have?

 

It's like going from a professor of sports studies to some clueless chav with 1 CSE

[DJ_NUFC]

Rafa coming out quoting Confucius whereas Bruce asking 'What the fuck is going on?'.

 

Has there ever been a better demonstration of what we had to what we now have?

 

It's like going from a professor of sports studies to some clueless chav with 1 CSE

 

Er, excuse me, only one of those fellas is a published novelist.

[Guest]

Edwards is amusingly silent today.

 

Not sure he can embarass himself any further, absolute clown.

[ToonArmy1892]

Edwards is amusingly silent today.

 

Not sure he can embarass himself any further, absolute clown.

 

He really is like, it's been incredible the way he's went on.

[nemtizz]

Cannot wait for his return once Mike pops his clogs.

[Guest chopey]

Edwards has said that Rafa only has eyes on money and couldn't care less about Newcastle and yet he continuously explains his position and wishes us all the best 

[cubaricho]

Cannot wait for his return once Mike pops his clogs.

 

Pipe dream shit there. Would fucking love it.

[Thomson Mouse]

Edwards come out with any anti-Rafa garbage in response?

 

He’s on the TF podcast, haven’t listened yet but I’m sure he’ll be spouting drivel on that

 

http://www.true-faith.co.uk/podcast-newcastle-united-lose-premier-league-opener-to-arsenal-with-special-guest-luke-edwards/

[Fitzgerald]

Cannot wait for his return once Mike pops his clogs.

 

Imagine! Then again the sheep don't deserve him back.

[Raconteur]

Loved Rafa’s eloquent savagery, especially the threat of more to come come - what can Ashley have said that’s worse than the already-public “paint the walls” and “no player didn’t sign because of facilities” quotes?

[Cronky]

The statement doesn't really tie in with the rather more optimistic noises that Rafa was making towards the end of last season, and the apparent position of the club of hoping till the last minute that Rafa would sign.

 

There's a comment about the takeover in there, which indicates to me that Rafa was putting things on hold in case that went ahead and he had the chance to work with a different owner who would loosen the purse strings.

 

As for being offered a contract on the same money with less control over transfers, I suspect that the situation was that Rafa had the choice between a long contract with more control, or a short-term rolling contract with less control, if he didn't want to commit at that point. The club have made it clear that they don't want to spend large transfer fees for a manager who could quit any moment, and be left with players that the new man didn't want.

 

This also explains the curious impasse over Joelinton, where Rafa seems to have taken the position that he quite liked the player, but not at that price. The club would only spend that sort of money for a manager with a long-term commitment, but Rafa wanted to see what developed in other areas.

 

So we had a complete impasse until the club had to take action in order to prepare for the new season.

 

People can still criticise the club for unnecessary penny-pinching if that's how they see it, but I think Rafa's behaviour was a little more complicated than his statement indicates.